In the height of news being easily available in the days of technology, preparing the youth to understand the roles of journalism in bridging information along with ethics and skills that embodies the practise in the industry is extremely crucial – especially these days where credibility of news are hardly questioned at the limitation of awareness on how news works.
The Craft of News Writing Workshop organised by the Johor English Language Teaching Association (JELTA) at a hotel downtown, aided 60 Johor Bahru secondary school students to understand how journalism and news work.
A panel of experienced journalists was there to share with the students the opportunity to learn useful tips on writing for a newspaper and the important link between the newspaper and education. Among the speakers were Terence Netto, a journalist from MalaysiaKini, former NST group editor, Rashid Yusof, JELTA President Vincent D Silva and many more who briefed the students on basic newspaper jargons, and the need to read more in order to produce quality writing, among others.
The students got an opportunity to be exposed to journalism and what it entails such as writing for the newspaper, journalism as a career, the importance of integrity in reporting, efficiency and risk-taking related to journalism, the media that shapes opinions, and distinguishing fact from opinion. At the end of each session, the students were given the opportunity to ask questions and respond to issues. The sessions were interactive and the students participated in the activities related to journalism and newspaper reports. A mini training session was also added to the programme so that the students could write a short report and share it with all the participants
